


sisterly yarn

by elliestars



Series: lights over the city [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Lots of Angst, lights over the city, lilith and eda get wastedd B), mentions of luz and king but they're like. just in the background, mentions of trauma, ok time to tag this i guess, ok time to take a break from this for a month now, woop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29122647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliestars/pseuds/elliestars
Summary: The Summer Starlight Festival has arrived in Bonesborough! Luz and King decide to go out for an amazing night with friends, leaving Eda and Lilith at The Owl House to perform a house ritual spell.But there's something worse between the two than the chance of the spell going completely wrong, and they both know it...(Part 3 of "Lights Over The City", a series of interconnected stories all following one main plot. You don't necessarily have to read the original LOTC before reading this, but the story will make a lot more sense if you do. Enjoy! :D)
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne
Series: lights over the city [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030542
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	sisterly yarn

**Author's Note:**

> shdhshsshasdhs its done at lasttt
> 
> thisll be the only chapter of lotc that's rated teen B)
> 
> also ill be taking a break from writing this until march. these fics have been grinding at my schedule, making me unable to enjoy what i wanna do. so yeh :1
> 
> enjoy!!

It isn’t hard to tell how comfy Eda’s nest is.

From the way the soft and messily arranged moss stretched across it, padding anyone who laid in it, or how one could lay down and listen to the chirping of birds outside, the nest was an oddly peaceful place to be.

It was like any other day. Except, it wasn’t. It definitely wasn’t.

Eda had spent a good few minutes lying half-awake in her nest, wrapped up in blankets. Her head was planted face down in the moss, and poofy tufts of hair peeped out from under her covers.

She could already smell the business the day ahead had for her.

And surprisingly, she could also smell the stench of freshly hacked-up mucus.

Eda grumbled.

_Mucus._

_Wai-Why does it smell like mucus?_

_That could only mean—_

And THEN there was the sound.

That AWFUL, **DISGUSTING** sound.

_A sound that could only belong to—_

Eda shot out of her nest and threw the blankets to the side.

The peaceful sun shining through the windows glittered across the creaky floorboards. Unfortunately, the shine of a perfect day was the last thing on Eda’s mind.

Eda peered out of one of the windows at the front of her room, and looked down to the front lawn below.

Just as she had expected, Hooty was unceremoniously engulfing an innocent witch.

Eda huffed, and ran to the front of her room, throwing her door open and bolting down the hall and down the stairs. If I’m lucky, I’ll make it in time before the witch reaches Hooty’s stomach.

Eda raced into the kitchen and grabbed a broom, just as King was starting to make his way down the stairs.

“Ugh, can you stop making so much noise? What’s going on?” King yawned, scratching his eyes. He had a plush bunny in his hands and a look of tiredness on his face.

Eda dashed out the front door, broom in hand. “HOOTY, I SWEAR TO TITAN, IF YOU DON’T COUGH THAT WITCH UP—“ King heard her yell, just before she ran out the front door.

King stood there, blinking, and ran after Eda.

Eda stood there, in front of a coughing and retching Hooty. She held the broom above her head.

“Cough. The. Witch. Up.” She deadpanned.

“I DIDN’T EAT ANYTHING!” Hooty screeched, zooming past Eda’s hitting range.

“YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!” Eda shouted, running after him, swinging the broom with wild abandon.

King looked around and started panicking. Obviously, he had to help Eda.

“King! Go get Luz! I need help—AAH!—Over here!” Eda yelled, ducking under Hooty and smacking him with the broom.

“Got it!” King shouted, dashing back inside and scurrying up the stairs.

-

King ran up the stairs and almost slid away from Luz’s door.

Just then, the door opened, and Luz stepped out.

“LUZ! EDA NEEDS YOUR HELP! SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED WITH HOOTY AND—“ King screamed at Luz in a panic, hoping that Hooty wasn’t going to try and digest Eda as well.

Luz smiled and rolled her eyes, smiling half-tiredly. Now, King wasn’t one to notice details, but he was at least slightly sure she’d been crying earlier.

“King, King, sloooow down. What happened?” Luz asked, interrupting King’s panic.

King sighed and stopped to take a few breaths before continuing. He could still hear Eda yelling from outside. “Okay, so you know how Hooty kinda eats stuff? So basically, er, he ate someone. Like, you know, someone alive.” King said.

Luz’s eyes widened. Without saying a word, she grabbed King’s paw and ran downstairs and out the front door.

“Hooty, if you don’t cough the innocent bystander up, I will NOT hesitate to burn you down.” Eda shouted. She smacked her broom side to side against Hooty’s face, and she circled around him like a shark ready to pounce.

Eda turned around, noticing that Luz had come through the door. “Luz! I need your help. Hooty ate someone and I need him to cough ‘em up before they get too far into the digestive tract!” She yelled, whamming the broom into Hooty’s side, making him retch.

Luz stared at Hooty, wide-eyed. “Wh-what do I need to do? Do you have, what, medicine around here? Does Hooty need a specific type of stomach medicine?” She asked, dashing by Eda’s side and circling around Hooty as well.

“No, actually, he just needs to cough up the dang thing. He’s being stubborn, though, so watch out.” Eda replied cautiously, slowly stepping towards Hooty and preparing to smack him with the broom.

Just as Eda was about to impact Hooty with the broom, he dove out of the way.

“I’m not being stubborn, you’re being stubborn!” Hooty screeched, ducking from under the broom’s radius.

“Luz, grab a hold of him!” Eda yelled, running over to the side of the cliff where the house stood as Hooty ran after her.

“Got it!” Luz yelled, grabbing a hold of the owl tube’s body, jerking Hooty back forcefully.

Eda then jumped on top of Hooty’s back and pounded the broom against the tube. Hooty started coughing and hacking loudly, until—

“BLEEEGH!” A witch lay covered in spit and slobber lay in front of Hooty. “That felt soooo much worse than eating that sparrow! Geez, remind me to never eat a witch again!” He remarked, zooming back into the house.

_That surely won’t stop you,_ Eda thought, sighing.

“Glad that’s over.” Eda said, turning to face Luz.

Hey eyes scanned over Luz’s uniform. “Right, uh, you need a ride to Hexside. Owlbert!” Eda called for her staff, Owlbert flying right out of the house and into Eda’s hand.

“Get on, kid. You’re probably already late.” Eda said, twirling Owlbert into a flying position, the staff spreading its wings out and levitating in the air.

Luz nodded and hopped onto the broom, and they both sped away.

——-

It was definitely quiet on the ride to Hexside. And that definitely wasn’t normal, especially for a person like Luz.

Eda and Luz had always talked on the rides to Hexside. It’s through that that they both came to understand each other better. Eda knew that Luz had a mom waiting for her back home. And among her own troubles, Eda understood what that must feel like.

Luz never said anything about it, though. Eda just knew. She knew how much it must hurt.

But she assumed that Luz never mentioned it because of how much more of a burden it would put on Eda.

_There’s a lot of things she probably doesn’t tell me,_ Eda thought, focused on the incoming silhouette of Hexside contrasting the clouds.

It was only a short amount of time before Luz and Eda made their landing.

Eda hopped off of the staff and looked into the distance. “Here we are. Death by Education. Every day I wonder why you chose this school.” She put her hands on her hips and chuckled half-seriously, in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood. There was some level of sincerity to Eda’s words, however. Her time at Hexside hadn’t been especially golden.

Eda looked over to Luz, and her smile started fading.

Eda didn’t want to make any suggestions, but Luz looked like she’d definitely been crying earlier.

Luz’s face was long, and just a little gray. Any amount of peppiness or misplaced confidence she usually had was replaced by silence and still quietness.

“Hey, kid, you alright? You seem like you got something on your mind.” Eda asked softly. (Which is definitely NOT a thing she usually does, believe me.)

Luz looked up. And in that exact moment, it clicked with Eda.

Luz had been thinking about her mom.

“So, er, Eda, you know how you said last night that there would be a ‘Starlight Festival’ tonight or whatever?” Luz said, hopping off of Owlbert.

Eda knew Luz was trying to change the subject, but she smiled anyways.

“I see you’re interested?” Eda replied, crossing her arms and giving Luz a smirk.

Luz nodded, and Eda could sense a bit of struggle behind her words. “I was wondering if, well, maybe you had something for me to wear to it. I probably shouldn’t go in my Hexside uniform,” Luz said, stroking the rim of her uniform’s skirt.

Eda thought for a second. “I might have a dress I bought a long time ago for the festival. I thought it looked amazing when I saw it in the shop window I bought it from, but when I tried it on, it definitely wasn’t my style.” She said, the blurry image of a white to yellow sparkling knee-length sleeveless dress flashing into her mind. And oh, those gaudy yellow ribbons that were tied at the shoulders. Eda shuddered.

“Right now, it’s buried in my closet somewhere, but I could try and see if I could dig it up.” Eda continued, scratching the back of her head. “Maybe it might fit you.”

Luz smiled, and Eda immediately noticed that she was genuine about it.

“Should King come with me? I’m not really sure if he’d want to come or not..” Luz asked, crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow.

Eda groaned, remembering the load she’d have to carry today.

The renewal spell. Every witch who has a house demon has to make sure that it doesn’t break off of the house. Back in ye olden days, house demons regularly fell off of houses and people weren’t able to do anything about it. That is, until a certain spike in the magic atmosphere was discovered. Not only did this create the ritual of the Starlight Festival, but this also gave house demon owners a shot at making sure their demons stayed connected.

Eda had been doing this ritual for a long, looong time. So long, in fact, she hadn’t even remembered when she started. Each year she’d wake up on the morn of the Starlight Festival. She’d gather the necessary ingredients to perform the spell, and finally, she’d complete the ritual and Hooty would stay glued to the house for about, say, another 6-7 months.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be so much of a problem. But Eda can’t perform magic now.

Hopefully, she’d be able to perform the house ritual without magic. Which wouldn’t be so hard, now that she had (a rather unwilling) Lilith by her side o perform the spell.

Eda just hoped this would go right.

Eda groaned. “Well, King doesn’t really have a say in the matter. With the hemispheres exchanging, new magic becomes present throughout the isles. The previous magic wears off, and my house’s defense system is rendered useless. I’ll need to do the renewal enchantment, and I don’t want King to stand around having nothing to do while I’m outside performing the spell.” Eda said, taking her hands off of her hips.

That was only a half-lie. Truthfully, the reason Eda didn’t want King to stay at the house is because she didn’t want him to get hurt in case the spell went wrong.

But she also knew King wouldn’t be of much help for the renewal enchantment.

Eda hopped onto Owlbert and took one last careful glance at Luz. “Now, if I want to be able to complete the spell by dawn, I’ll have to get the materials now. See you after school!” She said, giving Owlbert a hard slap and taking off into the air.

That was also a half-lie. Look, Eda didn’t want to admit it out loud, but she’d already prioritized getting that dress for Luz above anything else at this point. She’d figured she’d find the materials for the renewal spell while she looked.

Eda sighed, gripping onto Owlbert tighter. _Anything just to make her a little happier._

—

Eda stepped through the front door and put her hands on her hips.

Hooty, luckily, didn’t shoot out of the door again. He was having his afternoon nap. Eda didn’t actually know if house demons could sleep or not, but she decided to not question it anyway.

“Well, I’ve got my fair share of work ahead of me.” She said, leaning Owlbert against a coat rack and strolling into the kitchen.

King was sitting on the couch, blind to Eda coming into the house.

His eyes were glued to Luz’s phone.

“King, have you seen the small cauldron by any chance?” Eda yelled from the kitchen, tossing pots and pans from the pantry onto the floor.

“Maybe. I dunno. Whaddya need it for anyway?” King asked, not even batting an eye from the phone.

“I’m doing a spell. Now, have you seen it or not?” Eda questioned.

“I think it’s on the stove.” King answered.

And, surely enough, it was.

Eda brought out the cauldron (which was roughly the size of King himself) and slammed it on the coffee table in front of King.

“WEH!” King shouted, snapping his head up from the phone.

“That’s more like it. Now, you’re gonna help me with finding something special. Got it?” Eda grunted, putting a heel on the coffee table.

“Y-yes ma’am! I mean-sir! I mean-Eda!” King squealed, jolting to his feet and off of the couch.

“You’re gonna start by emptying out that closet over there.” Eda said, pointing at a closet door that was next to the stairs.

“Got it!” King yelled, racing to the kitchen to grab whatever supplies he’d need to clean.

Eda sighed, and sauntered over to the closet and opened it up.

A tidal wave of dusty and grimey clutter swept over her, knocking her back.

“Ow. I really need to clean these out more often,” Eda said to herself.

“I’m baaaaack!” King yelled, dashing over to where Eda was with multiple mops in his hands.

Eda nodded, and she got up from the clutter, kicking some of it aside.

She stepped deeper into the closet, and started emptying it out.

-

Everything was pretty much a blur after that.

King and Eda emptied out closet after chest after closet, filling the house to the brim with useless trinkets of all sorts.

The great thing is, is that Eda found each and every ingredient she needed for the spell.

But she kept digging anyways.

And digging.

And next thing Eda knew, she was sitting in a pile on her bedroom floor, items spilled out around her, no special dress in sight.

She looked around.

The floor was littered with trash bags, jewelry, shoes, brooms, potion bottles, dresses, and whatnot.

King was nowhere in sight, obviously. He probably gave up after the third emptied closet.

Eda groaned, and got up, shoving her hands into a pile of clothing next to her.

She threw fabric everywhere and anywhere she could with wild abandon.

_No. Nope. Nah-ah, definitely not it._

Eda began throwing things crazily, from left to right, forward, backwards, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But she kept digging. And throwing. And shoving, and walking around from pile to pile, until—

The door to Eda’s room opened.

“Eda? What are you doing?” Luz called out, stepping into the room.

“Oh, hey Luz! I was doing a little spring cleaning before you came home. You know how messy this house gets.” Eda waved to Luz, knee deep in garbage bags and whatnot.

Luz looked down and winced. “I think you’re kind of doing the opposite of whatever cleaning is,” She replied, shaking a bit of moss off her foot.

Eda sighed. Luz had a point.

Eda had been tearing the house apart to find just a single dress.

“Well, when you’ve got items you’ve moved house with more times than you can count, you tend to have a hard time cleaning them up.” Eda sighed, diving into the pile to dig out another dress, but instead her dove in too far and got stuck in the mess.

Luz kind of stood there for a second amongst the trash, then cleared her throat.

“So, Eda, what exactly are you doing that you have to tear apart the house for?” Luz said, waiting for an answer.

Eda’s legs tried to pull her out of the nook she was wedged into. “I already told you, spring cleaning. Either it’s the sound of your voice being muffled by this trash or you seriously just asked a question I already answered.” She said, pulling her head out of the pile.

“Eda, it’s the middle of summer.” Luz retorted, crossing her arms. “What are you even doing?” She asked again.

Of course Luz wouldn’t buy ‘spring cleaning’ as an excuse.

Eda looked over at Luz. “Alright, well, I can see you want the truth. I’ve been digging out all this mess so I could find the dress I said I’d get you.” She said, thrusting her hands into the pile behind her, digging out pieces of jewelry.

Luz gasped, and Eda perked her head up, turning away from the jewelry pile she was digging out of.

“I thought you were looking for the ingredients for the protection spell you were doing tonight. Why would you try and look for the dress you were going to give me first?” Luz asked.

Eda smiled. “Well, I thought getting you the dress would be more important. Besides, while nearly ripping the house to shreds, I found everything I needed for the spell.”

Luz chuckled. “Did you find the dress yet?”

Eda sighed, looking around at the mess that surrounded the room. “No. I’ve looked everywhere in the house for it. My room’s the last place it could be. By the way, have you seen Lilith? I’m pretty sure she was in the bathroom last time I saw her, but that was hours ago. I hope she’s not stuck in there, that door’s jammed from all the junk I threw in front of it.”

Luz looked around and rolled her eyes. “Maybe she left.”

Eda thought. _Of course Lilith would spend a long time in the bathroom, trying to keep the box dye in her hair. I wonder why she’s still even trying to keep up her image, even when she knows she’s banned from the Emperor’s Coven._

_I just hope she left the bathroom._

Eda shrugged. “Eh, I’m sure she’s fine.”

Something shimmered in the corner of Eda’s sight, and Eda turned her head to get a better look at it.

She squinted her eyes and crouched down to where the glimmer was, reaching for a a small box crammed in between piles of several dresses and shoes.

“Could this be—“ Eda said, dusting off the box and grabbing it. She opened it up.

She smiled, immediately knowing what she’d found.

“Hey Luz, here’s your present.” Eda said, stepping over the piles of discarded junk and handing the box to Luz.

“Is this the dress?” Luz asked, motioning her hand to open the box.

“Wait just a second, kid.” Eda put her hand on the lid of the container. “Don’t open it just yet. It’s more special if you wait to see it until you put it on. There’s a pair of shoes in there as well.” She said, smiling at Luz.

“Thanks, Eda. This means a lot to me.” Luz said, beaming.

Eda felt a spark of happiness just from the way Luz was smiling.

She’s not sad anymore. I can tell.

Eda patted Luz’s head, messing up her hair. “No problem, kid.”

Eda looked around the room and remembered the dump both her and Luz were standing in.

“Well, looks like we got one heck of a mess to clean up. Wanna help me with this one?” Eda said, putting her hands on her hips.

“You bet!” Luz exclaimed.

——-

(A brief six hour long cleaning montage later, which involved King latching on to a mop and being dragged across the floor, Luz walking right into a spider web, and Lilith breaking down the door to the bathroom exasperatedly with a fire spell in her hand, only to find nothing blocking the door’s way.)

——

Eda fell onto the couch and yawned, stretching her feet out across some pillows. “Wuff. Cleaning sure gets me beat. I could really go for some food right now.”

King lifted his face up from Luz’s phone. “You said it, sister.”

Eda growled, knowing full well that King didn’t even help.

Luz seemed to match that sentiment. She strolled downstairs and stared directly at King, the white box in her hands. “You didn’t even help, King.”

“I sure did! Getting attacked by a mop isn’t easy, you know. I had to fight for my life!” King shouted back, putting his hands on his hips.

Lilith walked downstairs and stood next to Luz, brushing the dust off of her sleeves and dress. “So, Edalyn, are you ready to perform the spell?”

Eda threw her head back and groaned. “Right.” She stepped off of the couch and looked at Luz. “It’s getting kind of late. If you want to make it to the Starlight Festival in time, you might want to start getting ready now, Luz.”

Luz looked at the white box in her hands. “I’ll be downstairs in a little bit to show you my outfit then, everyone.” She chuckled half-nervously, before heading upstairs.

Eda smiled as she watched Luz disappear up the stairs. I’m glad I was able to get something to make her happy. I know she doesn’t want to tell me what’s going on, but if I’m able to make her smile, I hope that’s alright with her.

Lilith grinned at Eda. “I see you’ve adopted her?”

Eda chuckled. “I haven’t signed any legal documents yet, but in a sense, she’s like a daughter to me.”

Apprentice. Eda couldn’t call Luz just her apprentice. Luz meant so much more to her than that.

_“Us weirdos have to stick together!”_

Eda smiled.

It was only two weeks ago when Luz had put her very life on the line to get Eda out of the Emperor’s Castle. She sacrificed her only way home just so she could save Eda.

And Luz had done so, so much more for Eda.

And to think that just a month and a half ago, they barely even knew each other.

Now? Eda wouldn’t consider Luz anything less than family.

King rolled his eyes from where he was sitting. “You two are too sappy for my own good. I can’t believe I’m staying home from the festival for this.”

Eda smiled. “Actually, King, you’re going with Luz to the festival. I can’t have you standing around doing diddly-squat while me and Lilith perform the spell.”

King shot up from the couch. “Really?”

Eda snorted, and her smile turned smug. “Of course! Even better, Luz picked an outfit for you too! It’s absolutely amazing.”

King’s happy expression turned to one of dread. “Oh no. Not outfits.”

Lilith snickered. “Oh yes, outfits. You’ll look so cute with it on.”

King jumped off the couch and started scurrying away. “THE KING OF DEMONS DOES NOT LOOK CUT-Ow!” His escape was stopped by Hooty.

“Hooty? Why are you blocking my path?” King said, the terror in his tone slowly rising. “I thought we were comrades! Remember? We defeated the boot camp together!”

“Sorry King, it’s nothing personal. Eda told me you’d try to escape, so I’m afraid I can’t let that happen.” Hooty said, unfurling from the house door, his grotesque presence slowly encasing King.

Eda smirked. Ah, Hooty, you might be horrendous, but you do your job so well.

“Eda! Lilith! Please don’t do this do me!!” King yelled, banging on Hooty’s tubey exterior.

“You’re gonna look adorable, King!” Eda yelled back as she watched King get engulfed by Hooty.

Eda felt bad hearing King whine and yelp while Hooty carried him off to the upstairs bathroom.

She turned to Lilith once all of that was done and over with.

“So, Lily. We’ve got a long night of work ahead of us. I’ll go gather the ingredients for the spell, can you make sure the outside of the house is fully secured?” Eda said, stroking her hand around the inside of the cauldron that was lying on the coffee table next to her.

“Of course. But, look, I’m not really sure proceeding with the spell is the safest option. Both you and me don’t have any magic left. How do we know this will go as planned?” Lilith asked, crossing her arms.

“I have a hunch that this spell can be performed with just the right glyphs. We might not be able to use magic, but that can’t stop us from trying.” Eda said, walking over to where her cloak was hung on the coat rack, and reaching into its pocket.

“Plus, I’ve had some teaching from a very excellent mentor.” Eda smiled, pulling out a couple of paper glyphs from the pocket.

Lilith rolled her eyes and smiled. “I’ll go outside and check the perimeter. I’ll be back in about, say, 5 minutes.”

“Good enough for me.” Eda strolled into the kitchen to dig up the ingredients she’d found during the house purging earlier.

—

Eda walked back to the coffee table a few minutes later, ingredients in hand.

“Alright. That’s everything.” She said, dumping everything on the table around the cauldron.

Just then, the front door opened.

“I checked. No demons outside or clinging to the house. Although, there is one extremely putrid pile of vomit behind the house, should I be concerned about that?” Lilith asked, visibly trying not to gag.

“Nah, that’s just where Hooty goes when we have thunderstorms.” Eda said nonchalantly, eyeing the cauldron.

“Right.” Lilith responded, walking over to where Eda was and sitting on the couch. “First off, we need the bog water base. Did you already put that into the pot?”

Eda popped the top off of one of the bottles and poured it into the pot. “I’m pretty sure that slightly filtered will do. The last stock kinda almost sold out at the potion guy’s stand. He’s always running out for some reason. Found that out the hard way when my curse came knocking.”

Lilith popped the top off of another jar. “I bet that must be a pain.”

“Oh, you bet. Every time that dang curse comes, I’m worried that I don’t have the medicine for it. That doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I’m, you know, scared.” Eda sighed, taking out a small ladle and stirring the bog water mixture.

“My own sister? Scared? Call me a snaggleback’s aunt.” Lilith chuckled, reading the label on the jar she had just opened. “Next ingredient is cursed boiling kelp?”

“Yeah. Be careful not to inhale it though. It’ll really take you on a trip.” Eda half-chuckled, knowing full well what that kelp was for.

Lilith appeared to have got the subtle joke Eda made. “Oh, you’re terrible.” She said, dashing the kelp into the pot.

“But, you know, I’m right to be scared. Look, every time I’m that monster, that—creature, I lose control. I can’t—I can’t stop hurting people. Every time that I transformed, every time I did—I was scared. Not for my life, believe me, but for everyone else’s.” Eda said, and her grip on the ladle tightened a bit.

Lilith’s smile turned to a concerned wince.

“I’m sorry. I just—ever since the whole ‘the curse took over me’ thing, I haven’t—I guess I haven’t really been doing that fine. My sleep schedule’s a little woozy. I’m constantly having nightmares. Gosh, and the amount of night juice bottles just sitting around my nest—“ Eda started, cutting herself off midway and putting a slow hand to her mouth.

Lilith sighed, obviously seeing that Eda didn’t want to give more closure on what she was talking about. “Right. Um. What’s the next ingredient?”

Eda cleared her throat, and gazed at the list she had crumpled in her hand that wasn’t holding the spoon. “Dryroot.”

Lilith poked her hand around the pile lying next to the cauldron, digging out a couple of brown mossy shoots.

“So, I assume that Luz is teaching you some amazing things, hm?” Lilith half-smiled, tearing a shoot off of the plant and dropping it into the cauldron.

“Yeah. I’m starting to think she’s a better teacher than I am.” Eda chuckled, stirring the shoot until it was grounds. “It took her only a month to be able to beat an entire team of Emperor’s guards, meanwhile it took me years to be able to lay a hit on just one.”

“That’s one strangely powerful student you have there, Edalyn.” Lilith said, methodically tearing off the shoots piece by piece and dropping them into the pot ever-so-carefully.

“Nah. She’s just a fast learner. As I was always taught, those who know how to listen always do the best.” Eda replied, taking out a bottle labeled ‘Feldstem’ and pouring it into the pot, stirring it into the mixture.

“She might be a fast learner, but I don’t think any normal 14-year-old witch would be able to pull of a moonlight conjuring on the level of a house, nevermind a human. That takes some power.“ Lilith replied thoughtfully, picking up another container of liquid and closely reading the label.

“Well, you’re right. I kinda sensed from day one that there was something a little off, a little different about Luz. From the way she talked, to the way she tried to befriend everything that moved, to the way she never tried to stop learning magic, even though she knew full well that she probably wasn’t able to. Heck, nothing can stop her. She took down a whole team of Emperor’s guards for me. She’s gone up against the Slitherbeast, the Grom, Hexside’s star grudgby team, the Emperor, you, even your protegeé. And she beat almost all of them. That definitely takes power.” Eda said, looking at the list of ingredients again.

“Well, for your information, she didn’t almost beat my protegeé. Amity forfeited the duel before it was finished.” Lilith said ever so matter-of-factly.

“If it makes you feel any better, Luz especially didn’t defeat the Slitherbeast or the Grom on her own. If it weren’t for both Luz and Amity working together, I don’t think I’d be here right now. That’s one heck of a student you got there, Lily.” Eda said, looking up from the list and crossing her arms.

“I heard they’re friends, Amity and Luz.” Lilith smiled, pouring another set of roots into the pot. She’s definitely getting the hang of this, Eda noted.

“Eh, probably more. You didn’t hear?” Eda lifted an eyebrow.

Lilith’s nose scrunched up in confusion. “Hear what?”

“Amity asked Luz to Grom. Literally everyone watched them dance—it was being broadcast live! Does the Emperor’s castle not even have crystal balls?” Eda joked, rolling her eyes.

“WHAT?” Lilith nearly jumped at hearing that.

“You mean the fact that your student’s got a crush on mine or the fact that I pointed how technologically behind your living situation is?” Eda snorted, dropping another potion in the pot.

“No, I mean—Edalyn, how could you NOT have told me that?” Lilith questioned exasperatedly.

“I thought you knew. Maybe you’re just not that good at reading faces. Or feelings.” Eda boasted.

“You’re a witch,” Lilith huffed. “Of course I wouldn’t have been able to tell my apprentice was heartstruck when her only interaction with Luz was a staged battle.” She rolled her eyes, shaking up a jar and pouring it gently into the pot.

“Staged on your side.” Eda whispered under her breath.

Lilith strummed her fingers around the last two potions left on the table to pour. “Tribara first, then Uqara. I’ve learned from reading your ridiculous records on potion-mixing.” Lilith eyed the bottles, picking one up and pouring it into the cauldron.

“What can I say, Lilith? The choosy hat put me in the Potions track for a reason. I guess I just have a natural affinity for mixing things.” Eda half-boasted.

“Yeah. I remember drinking one of your concoctions. Ended up throwing some of my bile up. Nice work, mixologist.” Lilith snorted.

“I was 5 when I made that. You can judge me for the mistakes of my younger self, Lily!” Eda rolled her eyes, grabbing the last bottle left and pouring it in the pot.

“You judge me all the time for the mistakes of my younger self.” Lilith said nonchalantly, but something—okay, maybe everything—about that statement made Eda’s blood run cold.

But Eda rolled her eyes anyways, and continued mixing the pot. “I still can’t believe you didn’t know Amity liked Luz.” She said, scoffing.

“Uh-huh, go on about that all you want.” Lilith growled.

“Talk about Little Miss Obvious! Luz really didn’t even notice that the Grom was literally shaped like her. I’m pretty sure I heard a collective gasp from the entire crowd when that happened.” Eda tapped the ladle against the pot, and watched in awe as the mixture turned red, then green, then blue, then orange and blue.

Lilith smiled, and stood up. “Looks like that’s done. And, Eda?”

“Eh?”

“If you bring up this whole—‘Lumity’ thing one more time, I’ll wring your neck.”

“Oh, you gave it a pet name.”

“I’ll—“

“Alright. So I picked up a flyer at school today, and it had the map leading to where the festival was. We should be able to get there pretty quickly if we follow it,” Luz’s voice chimed from the stairs.

King nearly fell running down the stairs, but he slid into the living room and strut a pose in front of Lilith and Eda.

“Heyyyy Eda! Lilith! How do I look?” King boasted, modeling off his look.

Eda and Lilith both looked up at the sight of King and Luz.

“King you look adorable. You’re killing it with the bowtie.” Eda said, winking.

“You look great, King.” Lilith said, clapping.

King giggled at those compliments. “You think I’m amazing? Take a look at Luz!” He said, tipping off his tophat in Luz’s direction.

“Wait-wha?” Luz said, breaking her focus from reading what Eda assumed was a flyer.

King walked over to her and tugged her hand. “Show them your outfit!” Eda could hear him whispering.

“Oh, right!” Luz said, strutting into the living room and twirling around.

Eda didn’t really know what it was. Maybe it was just how much Luz was smiling in that moment, or how the dress looked remarkably pretty once all the dust was cleared off of it, but all of a sudden, Eda didn’t completely despise how it looked anymore. In fact, it looked magical.

Eda’s face lit up and she smiled at the thought of it. “You definitely pull of the dress better than me. I think it’s meant for you.” She said, proudly.

Lilith was beaming too, to no surprise. “You look stellar, Luz.”

Luz blushed. “Aw, shucks.”

King cleared his throat. “Now, we must go onward! To the festival, Luz The Human!” He yelled, tugging Luz’s hand, and pulling her towards the door.

“Uhh, I guess we’re going now! Bye, Eda! Bye, Lilith!” Luz said, waving to them both and walking out the front door.

Eda waved back. “Be back by midnight! And, uh, King?”

King was almost out the door, but he turned his head around. “Yeah?”

“Don’t try any funny business at the festival.” Eda deadpanned.

King gulped.

“Uh-Absolutely! Wouldn’t dream of it!” King nervously shouted, sprinting out the door, shutting it behind him.

“You think he’s gonna do something stupid?” Lilith asked Eda, grabbing a few bottles to take back to the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, totally.” Eda responded, brushing the leftover debris off the table. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the kind of shenanigans that get someone hurt.”

“I see you’ve passed your unhealthy habits to your other student,” Lilith smirked.

“First of all, they’re not habits. I just tend to drag trouble with me everywhere I go. Second of all, King’s not my student. He’s more like my co-worker, a partner-in-crime if you will.” Eda corrected.

“So you admit you’re a troublemaker.” Lilith retorted, walking to the kitchen, bottles in her hands.

Eda rolled her eyes. “You’re just as much of a troublemaker as I am. Remember all those times when we were young that you were my cookie-nabbing accomplice?”

“Ah. Every time we’d get caught you always got off squeaky clean, and I was the one who faced the punishment.” Lilith said, and Eda could hear the clinking of bottles being shoved haphazardly into a cabinet.

“Grams would always be like ‘Lilith! No cookies for a week!’ And you’d be like ’Noo! My cookies!’” Eda teased, brushing the dust off of her dress and getting up from thefloor and stretching.

“Those were the good old days. I’m—sad that we won’t really ever get to relive that, honestly.” Lilith leaned on the frame of the kitchen walkway, a smile on her face.

Eda didn’t want to say a word about how much it hurt her to hear those words. To Lilith, it might’ve been an offhand nostalgic statement.

But Eda had had her childhood ripped away from her. Something about the way Lilith simple brushed it off hurt her in words Eda couldn’t describe.

“Well, I’m going to search for the last things we need for the spell. The one thing I couldn’t find for it was wax candles, which, oddly, enough, I should’ve found them beforehand. I’ll be back in a few.” Eda said, disappearing up the stairs, trying hard to mask the hurt in her voice.

—

Lilith lifted herself off of the kitchen door and went to sit at the island.

As good as Eda was at hiding what she usually was thinking, the look on her face signified one of deep hurt.

Which was something that Lilith knew she could never understand.

Because it was one that she caused.

-

Lilith remembers that night 25 years ago as if it were yesterday.

She and Eda had been told that the tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven could only accept one person, so only one of them could go.

Eda seemed pretty okay with that.

Lilith was another story.

She knew in her heart that Eda was stronger than her. More powerful. If Lilith gave Eda a chance in battle, she’d surely be beaten by her.

That night, Lilith had laid in her bed for hours, unable to sleep.

The tryouts were tomorrow.

If Lilith didn’t sleep soon, then she wouldn’t be able to stay awake for the duels.

She tossed and turned in her bed, trying to figure out a way to work around the fact that Eda was probably going to beat her.

Then, Lilith got an idea.

If she could take Eda’s magic away for 24 hours, then she’d be able to beat her in the duels tomorrow.

Lilith knew just where to find something to help with this.

It was only a few minutes later that Lilith had snuck out of the house. She was walking down to the market of Bonesborough.

At this time of night, the only market that was still running was the night market, which Lilith knew she definitely wasn’t allowed anywhere near.

Nonetheless, she still sauntered through the streets of central Bonesborough, scouring the shops and stands for anything that she could use to weaken Eda.

The cloak she was wearing was unceremoniously big, and it dragged at her feet as she walked. It annoyed her to high hell, but she could live with it.

After receiving instructions from some rather shady people, Lilith approached a stand that was selling ‘curses’.

Lilith scanned the many scrolls that were strewn across the counter, when she found just the right one to use.

Lilith picked the scroll up and stroked it with her hand, reading the label on it.

‘CURSE FOR WEAKENING BILES. THE BIRDS MAY FLY AND THE MUD MAY CRACK, BUT WITH THIS SPELL, YOU’LL BEAT ANYONE IN A KNACK.’

Lilith smiled, and paid the small fee for the scroll.

She dashed out of the market and back to the house, climbing through her open window.

She stuffed the scroll in the pocket of the cloak and opened her bedroom door.

She crept silently through the halls, as to not wake up anyone.

And she tip-toed.

And she tip-toed.

Until she spotted the door with the Blightria on it. (All of a sudden, the richest families on the isles are coming up with terms for their crests. Everyone just decides to not question it.)

Lilith opened the door a creak. The light shining from the candles that were still burning in the hallway lit up the room, shining on Eda’s face gently.

Lilith smiled a bit. Her little sister was nuzzled into her blankets, snoozing away.

And to think that this cute little button of a witch was about to have an unfortunate day ahead of her.

Lilith slowly walked over to where Eda was sleeping, and pulled out the scroll.

She breathed in.

And broke the seal.

Lilith adjusted her glasses and rose a hand up in the air, and started chanting the spell.

Lilith closed the door behind her and crept back to her room.

It was done.

Hopefully, with this, she’d be able to beat Eda in the duel tomorrow.

She slept calmly that night, unbeknownst to the events that would unfold the coming day.

“I quit.” Eda said, dropping her staff.

Lilith’s eyes widened. “Y-you what?”

“I forfeit. I’m not gonna fight my own sister. You can have the spot in the coven.” Eda said, as if that entire statement didn’t completely shatter Lilith’s whole plan.

Lilith stood there, frozen. Unable to say anything. What was she supposed to say? That she’d cursed her sister and that Eda better appreciate it?

But the worst part, the part that hurt the most, was when Eda walked away.

But before she could leave the dueling arena, she let out a piercing, agonizing scream, and fell to the ground.

Lilith gasped and ran over to help her, but the Emperor’s Coven guards grabbed her and started pulling her over to the officiation site.

Lilith watched helplessly in horror as her sister started turning into a monster. As feathers coated her body. As her eyes blacked over and her teeth grew long and sharp.

And by the end of it? Eda was virtually unrecognizable. Orange little tufts of feathers peaked out from a monstrous structure.

People pointed and laughed.

Lilith watched helplessly as her sister was being gawked at. She watched helplessly as her sister ran away, ostracized from society, a monster, a freak.

Lilith managed to get a hand free. She dug into her pocket and read the scroll she’d stuffed there

‘CURSE FOR WEAKENING BILES. THE BIRDS MAY FLY AND THE MUD MAY CRACK, DEAR CUSTOMER, PLEASE READ THE BACK.’

Lilith gasped, recognizing that she’d misread what the scroll said in her tired rushing last night.

Lilith turned the paper over, and read the text.

‘WARNING. THIS CURSE IS PERMANENT. ANY AND ALL MISUSES WILL NOT RESULT IN LIABILITY. USE CAUTIOUSLY.’

Lilith felt tears for in her eyes.

She’d made a stupid mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake.

One that would cost her sister hurt and suffering for so many years to come.

—

Lilith sighed, and put her head in her hands.

“Sweet Titan, what have I done?” She sighed, scrunching her nose up.

Not once. Not once did she try to help Eda through her pain.

Not once did she try to console her. Not once did she try to help her, or make sure she was okay.

Lilith watched as Eda became an outcast to society. As she stayed more and more in her room, started avoiding school, started failing it.

Lilith watched as Eda slowly started to become a monster.

And then, Lilith left.

And it was only when Lilith had spotted Eda’s face on a wanted poster, that she knew she was still alive.

It may sound strange, but seeing Eda’s face on a poster and seeing that bounty on her head made Lilith happy beyond words.

And so it was a road of hunting and chasing and attacking and dueling that lead Lilith to where she was right now.

Lilith had made the decision to share Eda’s curse on that fateful day two weeks ago. She’d made her choice to betray the Emperor’s Coven and go with Luz and Eda. She’d made her choice to leave behind everything she knew, to become a criminal in the eyes of the law—and for what?

Lilith had always considering risking everything for just one thing quite selfish.

But she risked a life full of comfort and luxury and status because she wanted to be with her sister again.

And Eda still hadn’t forgave her.

Lilith didn’t expect a single thing out of Eda. In that fact, Lilith owed so much to Eda. She took Eda’s childhood away. She took her magic away. She took her strength, her sanity, her being away.

But Eda didn’t even say that she wanted to forgive Lilith. In fact, Eda hadn’t said anything. She’d been unusually quiet about this whole situation for weeks.

Lilith was biting her tongue too. It hurt. It hurt to talk about. It hurt to think about.

But it hurt so much more for Eda, who’d lived with that curse for 25 whole years of her life.

Lilith sighed. She just wanted something to wear away the pain for right now.

She lifted her head out of her hands and gazed around the kitchen.

Shelves full of swords and potions, jars of blood and slime lined the kitchen walls.

Lilith’s search stopped on a (fairly large) bottle labeled ‘Night Juice’.

She thought for a second, and smiled.

“Maybe a little. I’m sure Eda won’t mind.” Lilith said, getting off of the chair and strolling to the shelf, grabbing the bottle off of the shelf and popping off the cap.

Lilith sat back down at the island and took a long sip from the bottle, sighing heavily.

And she took another.

And another.

It was only until Lilith heard Eda coming downstairs with the candles that Lilith pushed the night juice under the counter and pretended like she wasn’t drowning her pain in blackberry flavored liquid.

“Alright. So I think this amount of candles should be enough to cover the whole house. I’m pretty sure that once we cinder the potion that we can use the fire glyph to light the candles with it.” Eda said, strolling into the kitchen, a sack over her back that carried all of the candles.

Lilith nodded. “Sounds great.” She said, as sincerely as she could.

“Lily, you okay? You kinda sound a little—“ Eda lifted an eyebrow.

“Nahhhh, Edaaaa, I’m fiiiine. Now let’s light them suckers up!” Lilith cheered, rocking the chair she was sitting on.

“Whatever you say, Lils. Now, I believe in order to cinder the brew, we’re going to have to char it up with a fire glyph. Since you’ve got your hands free, do you think you can do it for me?” Eda asked, slinging the bag of candles off of her back and onto the ground. “I’m gonna have to set these bad boys up outside.”

Lilith stumbled off of the chair and looked at Eda. “Can you uhh, I don’t know, hand me one?”

Eda paused for a second. “Riiight…” She said, suspiciously, before handing Lilith the fire glyph.

Lilith took the fire glyph and ran into the living room, leaving a very confused Eda.

Eda shrugged, and lugged the candles outside to put in the front.

-

Eda lugged the sack of candles out to the side of the house and sighed.

“You’re one heavy bag of wax, I’ll say.” She huffed, taking a moment to catch her breath before untying the bag and letting the candles fall out.

One by one, the candles each spilled out of the bag, creating a messy mound around Eda’s feet.

Each and every one of them was built haphazardly. Barely any of them were purely cylindrical.

_Pfft,_ Eda thought. _None of these candles fit the norm. Just like me._

She picked up the candles one by one and started lining the base of the house with them.

She still couldn’t shake off what Lilith had said to her earlier.

_“You judge me all the time for the mistakes of my younger self.”_

In a sense, in every sense, Eda was right to. She was right to hate Lilith for cursing her.

But she didn’t want to. Eda knew how hard Lilith was trying to earn her forgiveness. Eda knew how much Lilith had sacrificed for her when she chose to betray the Emperor’s Coven.

But Eda wasn’t ready to forgive her. Not yet, at least.

Maybe never. Maybe she’d never forgive her.

Maybe she’d just let Lilith try hard every day of her life just to gain her forgiveness.

Make her feel the pain that Eda went through.

But, then again. why?

Why should that happen?

Why should Eda let Lilith hurt herself in order to be able to forgive her?

There’s no point in making others feel the pain you feel if it doesn’t stop anything.

Eda sighed, adjusting a spherical wax candle to a section of the wall.

There’s no point in making Lilith bleed her apology out if it won’t heal anything between us.

It was a mix of struggling through these thoughts and mindlessly placing candles down that got Eda done within a few minutes.

As she placed the final candle directly in front of the front door, she turned her head to look up at the sky.

The Starlight Festival makes the stars in the sky shine brighter than any other day of the year.

Eda smiled.

I bet Luz must be having a great time at the festival.

She put a hand on the doorknob and turned it, definitely NOT prepared for what she was about to walk into.

-

Eda stood there in the doorway, blinking.

Lilith was sitting on the coffee table like a cat, swinging the activated fire glyph over the brew, slowly but surely cindering it.

Eda opened her mouth to say something, when Lilith interrupted her.

“Hiiiiii Edaaaa. This pot ain’t gonna blaze itself!” She shouted throwing a fist in the air.

“Lily, what, may I ask, in Titan’s name are you doing?” Eda questioned.

“Firin’ up this baby! Ain’t that what you said?” Lilith replied.

“No, I mean—why are you crouched on the coffee table like a feral animal?”

“Awwww, come on, loosen up Edalyn! Didn’t you always say I was too serious?” Lilith said, smirking.

“You know what? Whatever. Are you done charring the brew yet?” Eda asked walking over to the cauldron.

“Yeppers! This baby’s lit! My guess is that it’ll make a great renewal spell!” Lilith shouted woozily.

Eda rolled her eyes. “I’ll grab the pot and carry it outside. Uh, since you’re already kind of—busy—can you grab some more fire glyphs?” Eda asked, scooping up the pot in her hands.

“Yeppy! Always up for battling the candle monster!” Lilith shouted, hopping off of the coffee table and towards Eda’s cloak.

Eda blinked, and started walking cautiously out the front door again.

Eda rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her.

“Yep, no question about it, Lilith’s trashed.” She said, setting the cauldron down on the ground and sitting on the front steps. “She’s holding up better than me, at least.”

Eda put her head in her arms for a second and sighed heavily.

She couldn’t chase off the thought of forgiving Lilith. She couldn’t turn away from sleepless nights riddled with alcohol and nightmares. She couldn’t wear away her hatred towards the curse.

Maybe this night really did bring out the worst in her. Eda had been avoiding this glaring problem for weeks.

And she didn’t want to run away any longer.

And Lilith? She’s wasted. Buzzed. She probably doesn’t even remember what she and Eda talked about earlier. But that’s a lot better than helplessly carrying the guilt of it all.

And.. maybe that’s what Eda’s afraid of.

That she’s the only one carrying anything about this.

Eda lifted her head out of her arms and turned her head to look at the front door again.

Lilith opened the door, carrying a stack of fire glyphs in her hand.

Her woozy smile instantly turned to one of concern.

“You okay, sis?” She asked, crouching down on her knees and sitting next to Eda.

“Just give me some of the glyphs.” Eda grumbled, as Lilith handed her a few.

Eda stuck the glyph in the cauldron and the brew instantly lit up.

“This is gonna hurt, for sure.” Eda said, sticking her hand in the flaming cauldron and pulling out grounds of the brew, sprinkling it on the candles, walking to each and every one and doing the same over and over.

Lilith watched in drunken awe as the candles lit up with orange smoke, one by one. “Woah….” She cooed, staring at the candles intently.

“Titan, you’re a mess. I’m not sure you’d be able to help me mist away the ritual spirit.” Eda grunted, crushing a few loose embers under her feet from the brew’s fire.

“Nahhh, Eda, I’m fiiiine. By the way, your night juice is just—“—Lilith said, drunkenly imitating what appeared to be a chef’s kiss—“Amazing.”

“Glad you liked it.” Eda growled, throwing more ashes onto the candles.

As Eda did, however, a cloud of orange smoke started to surround the house. Lilith watched as the smoke seeped into the bricks and wood of the house, oozing between the cracks of each surface.

“Keep your guard out. That danged spirit could come out at any moment. It always hates it when I use its spell.” Eda grumbled, finishing sprinkling off the last of the brew, and stopping in front of the front door.

Lilith coughed. “It smells..bad.”

Eda rolled her eyes. “Always does. You get used to the smell of the fog after a while.”

A low growl started to echo from the mist, and Eda immediately tensed up.

“The ritual spirit’s somewhere around here. Watch your step, it can and will grab you by your feet and tear you from limb to limb.” Eda said, taking a fire glyph out of her pocket and holding it between her fingers.

Lilith took out a fire glyph as well, although, she just held it crumpled in her hand.

The growl instantly became louder, and Eda surged to the left, taking Lilith down with her.

A black smoke-like figure stood above the two. It was large, towering over both Lilith and Eda.

And it was DEFINITELY mad.

“Finally, you show up. I thought you’d hide your little nasty head for the rest of the ritual. Now get over here and face me like a real demon!” Eda shouted, dashing towards the spirit and throwing an activated fire glyph at it.

The spirit hit the impact head on, leaving a nasty hole in its oozy surface.

“Lilith! Get behind it! I’ll attack from the front, you got for the back!” Eda yelled, thrusting another glyph at the spirit.

“A-are you sure you’ll be alright?” Lilith stammered.

“To be honest, I’m more worried about you! Now get to the back before this thing kills us both!” Eda shouted, throwing glyph after glyph at the monster.

Lilith nodded, and disappeared into the fog.

It proved definitely difficult for Lilith to find her way through the fog, but she ran around the house’s back and slid across the dirt until she spotted the dark shadow of the spirit.

“There you are.” Lilith said smugly, taking out a fire glyph and dashing towards the monster with it.

However, the spirit sensed her presence, and it moved just in time, sending Lilith crashing afoot in front of Eda.

“Well, that definitely didn’t work!” Eda shouted, throwing another fire glyph at the spirit.

“Whyddya think? Maybe it’s just because you’re refusing to cooperate with me!” Lilith shouted, running to the side of the spirit and chucking a fire glyph at it as well.

“Me? Refusing to cooperate with you? You’re the one who’s blind drunk!” Eda shouted back.

“I’m only like this because I couldn’t bear to carry all of the guilt of you not forgiving me, even after all that I’ve tried to do for you!” Lilith yelled back.

Eda tried to throw another glyph at the spirit, but it threw her back, slamming her back against a tree.

“Lilith, what are you even talking about?” Eda said, getting back up on her feet and dashing towards the spirit again.

Lilith slowed down her attacks on the monster. “Eda, I know it’s hard for you. I know it’s hard to talk about. And I get that. But listen.” Lilith started, throwing a fire glyph onto the ground and activating it.

“I don’t know if you’ll forgive me. Heck, I don’t even know if you’ll even tolerate me, or have a shred of appreciation for me after all that I’ve done to do. I won’t ever try to change that.” Lilith continued, placing more fire glyphs across the ground around the spirit, circling back around to where Eda was.

“All I’m asking for is a second chance. I can’t change how you think about me. I can’t redeem yourself in your eyes. But all I want is just for you to let me try.” Lilith said, placing down the last fire glyph and giving it a hard stomp.

Eda focused on Lilith.

And for the first time ever since Lilith even came to the house, Eda could since pure sincerity in her words.

Eda slid to the side and away from the spirit’s hitting range.

A smile broke out across her face. “For being wasted, you’re actually saying some pretty coherent things.” Eda said.

“So, whaddya say? Will you give me another chance?” Lilith asked, embers slowly floating around her, a ring of fire spreading by her feet.

“Of course, Lilith. If you’re really willing to change, to make up for everything you’ve done, I’ll give you a chance.” Eda smiled, pulling out another fire glyph from her pocket.

“Great. Because we’re about to do something so incredibly stupid, so insurmountably dumb, that even you wouldn’t approve of it.” Lilith grinned, jumping out of the ring of fire and sliding next to where Eda was.

“Alright. You’ve got my attention. What’s your plan?” Eda asked.

“You see those fire glyphs lined around the spirit? If we can get it into the range of one of those, then we can blow it backwards, giving us the free oppritunity to deal a killing blow.” Lilith said, pointing at the growing ring of fire around the monster.

“And how do you suppose we strike that blow?” Eda questioned.

“With your favorite weapon.” Lilith said, whipping out a broom, which Eda hadn’t really noticed she was carrying.

“Wait—how were you able to grab a broom? We’ve been outside this whole time.” Eda asked.

“A witch never reveals her secrets. Take this. I’ll leave it to you to strike the blow.” Lilith winked, and that tiny bit of charming wooziness was starting to come back to her.

“And.. what’ll you do?” Eda asked.

“What I can. I’ll circle around the spirit and get it to step on one of the glyphs.” Lilith said, dashing off to where the spirit was.

“Wait—you could get—“ Eda yelled back, trying to run after Lilith.

“Nahh. I’ll be fine. After all, this is me taking my chance to make it up to you for everything.” Lilith smiled, running closer to the spirit and finally entering its line of vision.

Eda sighed, and a weary smile spread across her face.

“Lilith, you are one crazy witch.”

Lilith circled around the spirit, yelling obscenities at it, egging it to step on one of the glyphs.

“Hey! Black smog! Come over here and step on me already!” Lilith yelled, racing circles around the spirit.

The spirit roared, and dashed over to where Lilith was stepping over one of the glyphs.

_This is it._

_Your one chance to make it up to her._

Lilith closed her eyes, and surged her foot off of the glyph, sending the spirit diving into the range of fire head-on.

The spirit roared in pain and fell back, a large burn mark on its face.

“Eda!” Lilith called out.

“Right here!” She heard a yell from behind the spirit.

“It’s not done yet! Make your move quickly!” Lilith yelled, running back from the ring of fire around the spirit.

Eda steadied herself.

This move definitely wasn’t going to be easy. In order to launch herself onto the spirit, she was going to have to put much force into her legs and broom to lift her up.

But she didn’t care, as much energy as that might take.

Lilith was trying just as hard as her.

And so she breathed in, watching the spirit slowly fall backwards.

Eda lurched herself into the air with one big push, piercing the spirit’s head with the broom handle.

The spirit let out a groan of agony before dissolving away into dust.

The orange smoke lining the house slowly started to disappear, and what smoke had crept into the house sealed itself into the walls.

Hooty was infused with the smoke, and for a brief moment of time, he rose up out of the house, eyes glowing orange, before zooming back into the door and resuming his nap.

“Well, that was an experience.” Eda snorted, brushing the dust off of her dress.

“Truly.” Lilith said, before turning away to go walk back into the house.

Eda hesitated for a second, before following Lilith in.

-

Lilith sauntered into the kitchen, looking for that bottle of night juice she’d misplaced.

Eda closed the door behind her and walked over to the kitchen doorframe, leaning on it.

“So, I assume you still got something on your mind, considering you’re looking for MY night juice again.” Eda teased, watching Lilith grab the bottle and sit back on one of the kitchen island’s stools.

“I do. Can’t a witch hold grudges?” Lilith retorted, popping the top off of the bottle and taking a swig from it.

Eda rolled her eyes, and walked over to sit down on a stool next to Lilith.

“Sure, but I guess I’d like to talk about it.” Eda sighed.

“Go on. I probably won’t remember any of this anyways.” Lilith said, taking another drink from the bottle.

“Look, Lilith, I think it’ll take a long time for me to forgive you. A long, long time. But I’m pretty sure you already know that.” Eda started off, leaning one of her shoulders up on the countertop.

“You’ve ripped away a part of my life, Lily. Everything that I could’ve experienced. My childhood, my adult years, I just—I had to wear away all of that time sitting in an abandoned house on a cliff. I couldn’t bear showing my face in public. I’d go to sleep at night knowing full well that no one ever saw me as anything more than a delinquent who ran away from school at 15 years old. I don’t think you know how much that hurts.” Eda sighed.

Lilith laid an arm across the countertop. “You’re right. I don’t. And I never will. But—“—Lilith took another gentle sip from the bottle—“I’d like to help. I don’t know how I can, but I want to help.”

“There’s something else on your mind.” Eda replied.

“I don’t think there’s anything else I can do but try. Look, I made a stupid, stupid mistake when I chose to curse you. And I didn’t—I didn’t even help you while you suffered. And that made me suffer.” Lilith replied, fiddling with the bottle’s cap.

“It did?” Eda asked.

“It did. The more I saw you hurting, the more I saw you suffering, struggling—It made me ache. And that made me ache even more than the fact that I’d cursed you in the first place.” Lilith replied, her voice still containing a twinge of distance. “And probably the thing that burned the most, that stung every part of me—is that I never even helped you.”

Eda leaned up from the countertop. “Give me the bottle, Lily.”

Lilith looked at the bottle in her hand, suddenly realizing she was still holding it. “Uh, why?”

“Well, if you want me to even consider a chance of forgiving you, the first thing you gotta do is help me have fun. You tore away 25 years of my enjoyment, it’s only reasonable that from tonight on, we have some girls time.” Eda retorted jokingly, poking Lilith’s shoulder. “I’ll be taking that, thank you.”

Lilith rolled her eyes and handed Eda the bottle. “I have a feeling we’re both going to regret this tomorrow morning.” Lilith groaned.

“Drink now, regret it later.” Eda said, pointing a fingergun at Lilith.

She downed some of the bottle before dropping it on the counter and getting off of the stool.

“Alright, how about we go see what’s on the crystal ball? How’s that sound?” Eda said, stretching a bit before walking out of the kitchen.

“I’m pretty sure nothing interesting is on right now. Everyone on the Boiling Isles is attending their local Starlight Festival, so I highly doubt that anyone’s staying home to watch re-runs of terrible soap operas.” Lilith joked, following Eda to the couch.

“There’s no hurt in surfing channels, Lily.” Eda said, tapping the crystal ball on the coffee table.

Eda looked intently into the channels as Lilith plopped down on the couch and folded her hands behind her head. “Find anything good yet?” She asked.

“Nah. It’s all ads and bad comedies. I guess only the news will have to do.” Eda said, tapping the crystal ball and switching to the channel labeled ‘BBN NEWS LIVE’.

Eda sat on the couch next to Lilith and watched the crystal ball.

The news reporter, (Eda recognized him as the father of one of those punks who started a protest to free her from the Emperor’s castle) was standing in the middle of Bonesborough square, talking about the events of the Starlight Festival.

“The weather is perfect tonight, the comedy on stage is awful as polled by general audience consensus, and the people are enjoying themselves. Ladies, gents, and assorted demons, I think we have ourselves a pretty nice Starlight Festa so far.” The reporter said, motioning to the act on stage.

Eda was a little too buzzed to make out who was on stage, but a little grab blurb looked like they were telling bad jokes.

“I bet Luz and King are having the time of their lives at the festival.” Eda said, smiling.

Lilith grinned too. “So, have either of them been to the festival before?”

“Luz, definitely not. I’m not sure about King though.” Eda replied.

Both of them were definitely not prepare for what they were about to hear next.

“A breaking news report from earlier, however, stated that a-uh griffin attack occurred in the central square of Bonesborough, right next to the food tables. A tamed griffin was provoked by a small dog with a strange-looking skull for a hat. It’s a surprise that they haven’t been kicked out of the festival yet.” The reporter said.

Had Eda had water in her mouth at that moment, she would’ve done a spit take.

“Reports claim that around 4 people were affected in the incident, one of which was one of the children of the prestigious Blight family. Unfortunately, the information on any other victims hurt in the accident have yet to be documented, officials say.”

Eda blinked for a second before shutting off the crystal ball with a tap.

Lilith could barely restrain herself from full-on laughter. “Well.”

Eda pinched the bridge of her nose. “I should’ve known something like this would happen.”

“Hey, you know, at least he got one of those rich kids. That should be worth 10 extra criminal points.” Lilith half-joked.

“Look, Lily, it doesn’t work like that. Actual, real people got hurt in this accident. I just can’t believe King would have to audacity to do something like that.” Eda replied.

“Maybe he had a good reason to.” Lilith responded.

“King never has a reason for anything. And if he does, it’s almost always a bad reason.” Eda groaned.

“True. How’d’ya think you’re gonna tell him off for it?” Lilith asked.

“Beats me. I’ll probably just start berating him for it the second he comes through that door.”

The front door opened, and Luz walked inside, back from the festival.

King, on the other hand dashed ahead of her and was about to reach the stairs, when—

“So, King, I heard a griffin got loose tonight and attacked some people at the festival.” Eda deadpanned. She crossed her arms and stared daggers at King.

King froze in his place.

“Ha! I know of no such thing!” He laughed, nervously.

“King, what did you do?” Eda frowned. Obviously, she knew he was lying. Not only did the sheer stupidity of the accident itself give him away but also the suspect description.

“Luz, help me.” King whispered.

Luz reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to face King. “Sorry King, you’re on your own.” She said, and continued walking upstairs.

King turned around to face Eda and chuckled nervously. “Hah, so-um, I might’ve chased a griffin around at a festival for eating trash, and it may or may not have attacked someone—“

“FOR EATING TRASH?! That’s the dumbest excuse I’ve ever heard for provoking a creature!” Eda shouted.

“Edalyn, maybe you should—“ Lilith started.

Eda sighed. “You know what? I don’t even care at this point. I really don’t. I’m too trashed to care anyways. King, just go upstairs. This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, though.”

King scurried up the stairs, leaving a very tired Eda to fall back onto the couch.

“Well, that was annoying to deal with. So, whaddya say we head upstairs and settle down for the night?” Eda said, warmness returning to her voice.

Lilith jumped off the couch. “Sleepover?” She squealed.

Eda smiled. “Why not?”

-

“So, you’re really telling me you wanted to ask her to Grom, but you never had the guts to?” Eda lifted an eyebrow, and put an arm over her nest.

“Yuh-huh. Look, I thought Renea would’ve figured it out had it not been for her focus on her idiotic feud with Odalia.” Lilith replied, plopping back on the sleeping bag Eda gave her. She was wearing one of Eda’s old bathrobes and had her hair done up in a ridiculously messy bun.

“Pfft. You think that’s the only thing old girl Odalia was focused on? She was head over heels for that Alador guy! Titan, and the way they always held hands wherever they walked—“ Eda said, making a gagging motion.

“I know, right? Sickening.” Lilith replied, rolling her eyes.

By now, it was somewhere between 3 and 4 A.M., and Eda and Lilith had been busy talking to each other, wearing away the hours one by one.

There was probably no end to this night in sight. They could talk about whatever. Embarrassing secrets from high school. Traumatizing moments they couldn’t seem to ever get over. Whatever it was, they brought it up. Then they just kept talking, and wearing the night juice away.

And, Eda thought this sounded so weird, but she felt 14 again. The heavy hangovers from the night juice were starting to set in on them both, and most of the pressures of the world were starting to wear away the more they talked drunkenly.

Eda adjusted the ponytail that held her hair. Every single word they said, every single thing talked about, Eda felt the own weight of her problems start to drift away. Lilith made her feel more open.

So maybe, maybe just this once, it wasn’t completely out of Eda’s heart to forgive Lilith.

And to be honest, it never was.

Lilith laid back on her sleeping bag and smiled. “I heard what King and Luz were talking about before they came into the house, you know.”

Eda thought for a second. “Wait, you mean—“

“Yes, I’m bringing up the ‘Lumity’ thing again. There’s absolutely no doubt that Luz realized by now. I wouldn’t even be surprised if she reciprocated feelings.” Lilith chuckled.

“So, what, do you think we should stage a date between the two?” Eda asked smugly.

“Make it subtle, though. Call it a date but not a date. Amity’ll probably figure it out, but she’ll go along with it anyways. I know my apprentice.” Lilith answered.

“Anything to make Luz happy, you know.” Eda said offhandedly.

“Hm?”

“I don’t know. I’m only on board with this whole ‘set them up together’ idea if it makes Luz happier. I just—“ Eda laid back in her nest and sighed. “She reminds me so much of myself. I just don’t want that brilliant and confident spirit of hers to disappear. I don’t want her to become like me.”

Eda looked out the window at the sky. The stars were slowly fading in brightness as dawn grew closer and closer.

“I always joke that everyone envies where I am right now. But, in all honesty, I’d hate it if Luz ended up anything like me.” Eda continued.

Lilith rolled her eyes. “I envy where you are.”

“What?” Eda questioned, turning to face Lilith.

“I mean, come on. You’ve got more guts to defy the system than I could ever have. I still even dye my hair out of plain fear. You’re confident, you’re ambitious, you’re—pretty much everything I’m not.” Lilith answered, sighing happily. “I mean, obviously, no one would want to end up a criminal, but I’m talking about the real you, Eda. Who you are behind your wanted poster.”

Eda beamed.

Lilith had a point.

Sure, no one wants to be dead in the eyes of the law.

But Eda wasn’t just a criminal.

And Lilith saw past that.

“In that fact, Luz is like you. I can’t help but shake the feeling that you were destined to be her mentor. You two are so alike that it’s almost... destiny.” Lilith said, thoughtfully.

_Destiny._

_That’s a nice word,_ Eda thought.

“So, you want to do this every night? Stay up until 3 A.M. and talk about literally anything that comes to mind?” Lilith asked.

“I mean, not this late, and probably while we’re both not wasted, but think of it as our little girls’ night. You don’t mind that, right?” Eda answered.

“Sounds nice.” Lilith said, crawling into her sleeping bag. “And, Edalyn?”

“Eh?”

“Sweet dreams.” Lilith said.

“G’night to you too, sis.” Eda replied, smiling and pulled the blankets over herself further.

It felt good, being in bed again after a day like this.

And it isn’t hard to tell how comfy Eda’s nest is.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaa thank u for reading! leave a kudos if you liked this fic! (like, srsly. it motivates me to write more. also if u leave a comment ilysm <3 <3)
> 
> and, if you want to see more fics, just subscribe to me!
> 
> also go follow my tumbler for epic cool stuff: https://elliestarss.tumblr.com/
> 
> (next part comes out in, uh, you know what? idk. here's a hint for what it's about: "even with three eyes, she couldn't see all of the hurt she'd inflicted on other people." :o) )


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